Complicated and nuanced as equally as it is populist and compelling, Takashi Yamazaki's The Eternal Zero is way too cluttered to assign any form of accurate assessment and yet, this highly thought-provoking tale on redemption and legacy is highly worthy of your time. Yamazaki effortlessly weaves together an engaging, expressive, sometimes exciting yet often horrifying depiction of a disgraced kamikaze pilot's life, never glorifying the nightmarish situation and always remaining sombre. The great performances sell the otherwise muddled script while its aerial combat is staggeringly realised with Yamazaki's creative use of visual effects and kinetic camerawork. More solemn and graceful, emotional and tragic, than downright high-octane and death-crazed as depicted in some Western war films, The Eternal Zero is an enormously evocative film even though it stumbles upon its final approach with an exceptionally jarring and sappy epilogue that feels very out of place with this otherwise excellent film.
Review of The Fighter Pilot
